Keller group to show support for bill requiring public vote to split school districts
A Keller area coalition will be in Austin on April 29 to voice support for a bill that would require a public vote before a new school district could be formed by detachment.
In January, news broke that five members of Keller’s school board were considering a proposal to split the district in half using U.S. 377 as the dividing line. The move would have detached the schools in the cities of Keller, Southlake, Watauga and Colleyville from those west of 377 in Fort Worth.
Based on their interpretation of Chapter 13, Subchapter C of the Texas Education Code, the board members who supported the plan believed such a move could be done unilaterally.
House Bill 5089, authored by state Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, would remove ambiguity in the education code, making it clear that district detachment could not occur without a vote. A different version of the bill was originally filed by Rep. David Lowe, a freshman Republican, but Rep. Charlie Geren, a Fort Worth Republican and more senior member of the Legislature, has since taken it under his helm.
The bill is scheduled for a public hearing hosted by the House Committee on Public Education on Tuesday at the state capitol. Texas residents can speak in person in favor of or against the bill, or they can submit comments electronically. The hearing will be live streamed.
Keller school district residents strongly opposed the split, demanding that the plan be put to a vote. In the face of mounting criticism and legal opposition, the proposal was ultimately called off on March 14, with the school district citing financial hurdles.
Board members Joni Shaw Smith and Chelsea Kelly — the only two Keller trustees to oppose the split plan — will be joined by district residents and parents on Tuesday to speak in favor of House Bill 5089. They are the only two board members who live in Fort Worth.
Shaw Smith said she wanted to share her perspective with the Texas Legislature, highlighting the harm the Keller split plan caused within the district.
“I’m seeing it from a much higher level view of what’s happening and how it’s affected our administration, how it’s affected our teachers and employees,” she said.
Shaw Smith said she’d heard from numerous teachers who are anxious, some of whom are looking to leave the Keller district altogether as a result of the proposed split. She doesn’t want to see that happen, and she wants to make certain that a similar plan never moves forward without the public having a voice.
Some of her constituents have questioned Shaw Smith’s support of House Bill 5089. They say it’s akin to “big government” intrusion, but Shaw Smith sees it as anything but.
“This isn’t a big government thing,” she said. “Big government is mandating or making decisions without the peoples’ input and voice and say. What everybody wanted was a voice in the matter and a vote, and that to me is not big government. That is giving the people the power back.”
Summary of HB 5089
If the bill passes, the first step in forming a new district through detachment would be filing a petition with the Texas State Board of Education. The petition would have to give the boundaries of the proposed new district, and it must be signed by 20% of registered voters in the existing district.
If the board of education deems the petition valid, the detachment proposal would go to public vote in the district in question, giving voters on both sides of the boundary a say.
If a majority approves the measure, the new district would be created, with the existing school board appointing seven trustees to serve the new district until the next regular election. All debts and assets would be divided equally among the two districts.
Should the bill pass in the Texas House of Representatives, it will move to the Texas Senate for a vote before moving onto the governor. If House Bill 5089 is signed into law, the changes to the education code would take effect Sept. 1.